Inadequate oxygen levels during sleep can damage the brain and increase the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, University of Queensland researchers have found.

Scientists from UQ’s Queensland Brain Institute and School of Biomedical Sciences are now initiating a clinical study of patients with sleep apnoea to determine whether treatment lowers the risk of developing dementia.

Professor Elizabeth Coulson said people who suffered from sleep apnoea that resulted in hypoxia – lower levels of oxygen in the blood – were up to three-times more likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease – the most common form of dementia.

The researchers have been investigating the mechanisms by which this occurs, finding that hypoxia leads to the degeneration of an area of the brain important for attention and learning.

Sleep apnoea, which affects more than one million Australian adults, occurs when the upper airways collapse during sleep, leading to intermittent pauses in breathing.